J and I purchased a shirt each for wearing while we travel through South East Asia. We’ll be travelling very light, so we need to pack clothing that’s so practical it’s almost laughable. Clothing with features that would be completely irrelevant in Sydney – like back vents for example. Things that you can wash by hand in a sink and have it dry in just a few hours, ready to be worn for the 30th day straight. My shirt is blue, long sleeved, and looks like my mother dressed me in chambray for a family photo in 1990. But, it’s actually a really nice fit, and surprisingly comfortable. J however was not so lucky. Thanks to the Amazon sizing charts it’s a size too big for him. That probably wouldn’t have been too bad if the shirt didn’t also come with two huge, incredibly unflattering chest pockets. J and I took one look at the shirt on and decided that the pockets had to go. They weren’t much use anyway – and since we’ll have daypacks with us there’s really no need to be carrying anything in shirt pockets. I took to them with my quick unpick, carefully removing each stitch so as not to leave any visible marks or holes. Now you wouldn’t even know that there had ever been pockets on the shirt, and it looks so much better!

The hoarding maybe-that-will-come-in-handy-one-day part of my personality decided to put the two removed pockets into my fabric stash until I decided what to do with them. After pulling them out last night and having another look at them I decided that they would make great little pouches to keep our electronic cables in while we travel. I cut out black felt for the backing pieces of the pouches and sewed around the edges with blanket stitch. I incorporated the original pocket closure on one pouch by sewing it onto the felt, and with the other I added snap closures. Each pocket took me about an hour to complete. Now we can store all of our chargers in one spot, and we wont have to go rummaging through our bags only to find a tangled mess of cables at the botton of the pack!

Finally – I’ve actually managed to take a photo of something I’ve made and post it on here!

This little Netbook sleeve was made by me last night while sitting on the couch watching television. I stitched the entire thing by hand, as we’re in the process of packing up our house for a move and I can’t find the sewing machine. Even if I could find the machine, finding a flat surface to use it on that’s not covered in curing soap for my business would prove to be quite the challenge!

I’ve held on to this piece of fabric for about 4 years, waiting for the right project for it. It is a sample piece by Kvadart, called Letters. It’s quite thick and strong – made from a blend of 50% cotton, 42% new wool and 8% nylon. Perfect for keeping our tiny new Netbook safe from scratches and bumps.

I pinned the fabric right sides together with the Netbook inside, and then backstitched up the sides with embroidery floss. I then used my pinking shares to cut off the excess fabric, turned it right side out and slid the computer into it’s new sleeve. I added the button and tie to prevent any unfortunate accidents of the laptop-sliding-out-of-pretty-new-case-and-heavily-hitting-the-ground variety.

I’ve just made this pretty garland to act as signage for my Saponify market stalls.

This Saturday I have a stall at the Reservoir Bazaar at The Winery in Surry Hills. If you’re in the area make sure you pop by. It’s a great chance to grab some last minute Christmas gifts, and a fun day out to boot!

This photo was taken at the park in Maroubra, prior to all of our guests arriving to celebrate the Mr’s 30th birthday. We had a most excellent day in the sunshine, surrounded with friends, and eating plenty of lovely food.

Dress: Handmade in Vietnam by a local tailor, this silk dress is so lovely to wear. It’s the perfect picnic frock. The circle skirt is plentiful enough that I can sit quite happily cross-legged and know that I’m not flashing any friends. Definitely a factor to consider when selecting your picnic going frock.

If you’d like to sponsor me for my Frocktober challenge please head here to donate. My registration number is 664999.

If you had asked me a week ago if I’d ever played backgammon my answer would have been no.

This is what I said to the Mr when he asked me if I had played before. I said that I’d like to learn though, so he downloaded an iphone app for it and taught me to play. We both agree that it’s a great game. It’s one of the oldest board games around.

Fast forward one week and we’re both slightly addicted to the game!

I wanted to do something special for J for his birthday this year. He turned 30 today you see, it’s a pretty special day.

I had originally planned on buying a vintage set online, but after some searching I found them to be way out of my rather meagre current budget.

This is what made me decide to make my own backgammon board for him. I remember seeing one on a blog many moons ago that someone had made. I couldn’t find the link, or any free patterns online yesterday, so I decided to design it myself.

Yesterday afternoon I drew up a pattern, cut out my fabric, and pieced it together. I made the board the exact size of our coffee table so that we can play while we sit on the couch at night.

I made the board entirely from things that I found about the house. A very thrifty project indeed!

The green fabric came from a thrift store in Batemans Bay. It’s very thick felt, like what you would find on a snooker or pool table.

The white fabric is a thin wool, perhaps from a blanket. I purchased that from Reverse Garbage in one of my fabric gathering outings.

The backing fabric is a Japanese cotton, something that I bought from Tessuti ages ago. I had been waiting for the perfect project to use it on, and I think it works really well.

The pieces/chips are buttons that I picked up from a local thrift shop ages ago. I got about 150 of them for $1 I think. I plan to sew or glue little circles of coloured felt into the tops of the buttons, but the white stickers are doing a fine job for now. I found the organza bag in amongst my craft goodies, perfect for storing the pieces.

The only thing that I don’t have is the 4 dice, but they can wait. In the meantime we’re using an iphone dice app!

I’m off to pack a picnic lunch for us to share today. It’s a glorious day for a birthday picnic I think. Happy birthday honey!

Today’s Frock is one that I made for myself last year for Frocktober. I wear it far more often than I ever thought that I would, which is a nice surprise. It’s super comfortable, and goes really well with my bright pink tights!

Dress: Wool crepe, handmade by me.
Cardigan: Ruby, NZ

If you’d like to sponsor me for my Frocktober challenge please head here to donate. My registration number is 664999.

Today’s dress is one that I made for myself last year. To be honest, it never quite fitted me properly. I had made it in haste, and with no pattern, so the elastic in the waist bands ended up being way too big. Unflatteringly so. Today I decided to see if I could fix it and make it more wearable, and I have to say that I’m quite pleased with the result.

I started by sewing in the waist elastic by about 4 inches so that it sits where I want it. Then I cut the top 4 inches off and made another elastic band. It fits so much better now, I think I’ll wear it tons this summer. I’m going to wear it with the split up the back now rather than at the side. I went out to get some shots and ended up walking all the way to Paddington and back in it. It’s really comfortable!

Dress: Handmade by me, then fixed by me a year later!
Brooch: Gift from my Mum – I think she got it from a market somewhere in Auckland. As I was putting it on today I accidentally broke off the little plastic diamante from the centre of it. Oops! I may or may not repair it. I quite like it the way it is now actually. I don’t wear it often, as it’s quite big to wear up on my chest. I think it works really well on my dress ‘belt’ though.

You’ll have to excuse my facial expression in the second photo – it’s difficult to pose for a photo when you can see another pedestrian coming along the alley towards you!

If you’d like to sponsor me for my Frocktober challenge please head here to donate. My registration number is 664999.

Today I’m wearing a little stretch cotton dress that I made last year. Super comfortable, but quite short! It’s a wear-with-shorts-or-leggings kind of number.

You can see right behind my behind there’s a couple of my handmade soaps. I’m just setting up to take some product shots so they can go into the shop this afternoon.

Dress: Handmade by me with fabric found in my Mum’s stash
Apron: Most probably made by my Nana, given to me by Mum last time I visited home. It’s awesome fabric, I love it! It’s fraying on the tie at the back and is badly in need of some repairs, but I that’s part of what I love about it. The wide waist band makes this apron so comfortable to wear. It’s great when I’m photographing my products as it stops me getting tiny pieces of soap all over my dress.

If you’d like to sponsor me for my Frocktober challenge please head here to donate. My registration number is 664999

Our lovely friends Fiona and Tarek recently got engaged, and had an party yesterday afternoon to celebrate.

We took along a little engagement present of some of my handmade napkins.

The fabric I used came from an estate sale that I went to recently. I’m guessing it’s probably from the late 60’s? It’s an amazing cotton print, the purple watermelon is so cool. I used an old sheet to back these napkins – that way they’re double-sided and they’ll last for ages.

Fabric napkins are perfect for picnics, dinner parties, and everyday use. We use fabric napkins all the time at home- we just love them.